Uniswap Labs, the company behind one of the top decentralized exchanges, has acquired Crypto: The Game, an interactive on-chain survival competition that went viral at the beginning of this year.
Built on Base, "Crypto: The Game" (CTG) is inspired by popular survival TV shows like Squid Game, where contestants must eliminate their competitors until finally one person is left with the entire pot. The game went viral on Crypto Twitter, notably getting support and applause not just from the crypto community but also from “normies,” who reportedly represent 10%–15% of the fandom.
In CTG, everyone buys in for 0.1ETH and votes each other out until one person wins the entire pot. Participants are allocated among tribes that face challenges such as arcade games, scavenger hunts and crypto-related puzzles. The winning tribe for each daily challenge receives immunity, while the players in the losing tribes are forced to vote off people within their tribe each night. The game is on 24/7 for 10 days. The Season 1 (S1) of CTG took place in February this year and generated tons of excitement. After Season 2 (S2), with a prize pool of around $250,000, was announced the following month, all 800 spots were sold out in 13 minutes. Uniswap was one of the partners, sponsoring one of the challenges in S2. Other partners included Adidas, DJ and crypto startup founder 3LAU, Wormhole, and Base.
The CTG founders, a specialist in marketing and partnerships with experience in TV shows and phone games, Dylan Abruscato, and two builders, Tyler Cagle, and Bryan Lee, will join the Uniswap team to work on the up coming seasons. They will also “experiment with on-chain activations for the Uniswap community” and, reportedly, explore new interactive consumer crypto experiences.
“We now have the full force of Uniswap Labs behind us, and we're going to use it to make S3 the best one yet,” - Abruscato told Fortune.
We had earlier observed that Uniswap is attracting a broader audience and developing new products and features to appeal to crypto novices. It aims to become a comprehensive solution for all. The acquisition of the viral CTG might be part of this strategy. It is worth mentioning that gamified techniques in the crypto industry are gaining momentum. It's clear that Uniswap wants to take advantage of this trend and might try applying some CTG techniques to attract more users.
In fact, CTG can become part of the exchange's marketing efforts: not only for one challenge but the entire next season. The game might become an advertisement platform for the newly launched wallet and the DEX itself, promoting their products among both players and spectators.
The CTG is a brand new, fresh and simply fun experience that unifies drama and tension from reality shows with new technologies, offering an exciting gaming experience on the edge between the real and the blockchain worlds. Even if Uniswap doesn’t get any particular benefit from this investment, owning such a novel product and supporting its further development is definitely a matter of prestige.
